Man 20 pounds is huge (lol). But I completely sympathize; I think clare said something at one point about getting more critical of one's body as one slims down, not less, and that's kind of been my experience, too.

I can't remember if that was me or Bernard who said that, but certainly my experience is that even with losing weight, the self-criticism doesn't go away, which points to the reality that 'being overweight' is not what's wrong with me. That's in my head, and unless I address it somehow I'm going to keep finding things to be self-critical about.

As far as motivation: I actually got somewhat anxious and fidgety during the four days I was in NYC this week b/c I couldn't work out properly. It's trite, but once you work it into your schedule on a regular basis, you actually find yourself jonesing for it, not dreading it. And no matter how out of shape you are, the vast majority of people can do 30 min on the stationary bike or 20 on the elliptical. Think about what you'd spend that time doing otherwise--feeling tired? Lounging around? Dicking about on the internet? None of those things are going to compare to how much better you'll feel if you set aside 45 min of your day to do something active.

Listen to me all pious and evangelizing when 4 months ago I couldn't be fucked

Eh, 'pollo, we're pretty similar in that respect. When you take something on you totally take it on. No half measures :-)

I use that 'just to the next corner' technique at the end of my run when I'm buggered. If I'm feeling flat I won't go at all.

I don't know. Maybe there's something to be said about animal protein, unless.. you know what you're doing, that is, or maybe I just had to get used to it.

The big things animal matter has is b-vitamins and creatine, but weren't you supplementing with those anyway?

I periodically think about veganism, but lord, I would miss milk so much.

I was but it...I hate to say it...just wasn't the "same". I didn't feel the same. My diet just needs some work I'm sure, because lots of fit people eat like that. It might also have taken some more time to get my body used to eating that way.

My friend has been a non-gluten diet and he seems to like it. I tried the vegetarian thing and I simply couldn't get enough energy for my current exercise patterns and goals. I think it's a matter of tweaking it and finding things that work, but man, I got to a point of failure there. I was eating relatively healthy but each day, I was weaker than the day before. It got terrrrrrrr. I don't know. Maybe there's something to be said about animal protein, unless.. you know what you're doing, that is, or maybe I just had to get used to it. But I decided not to mess with it, and I'm back eatin kitten tacos.

You have to eat a lot more if you're not eating meat and it actually got to be a chore for me to constantly re-up. It's way easier if you can cook in giant batches and at least not have to think about it for 5-6 meals in a row.

I think there are shades of difference between serious alcoholism and a predilection for eating too much cheese. Some of the undergirding psychology and maybe even some of the neurochemsitry might be similar, but chemical dependency ≠ unhealthy food choices, at least not in all (or even most) cases. I think it's maybe counter productive to couch all of our poor lifestyle habits in the language of addiction and recovery, since it both somewhat trivializes drug & alcohol addiction and enables a disavowal of responsibility that can result in an endless deferral of action. Again, it's different for everybody, but obsessing too much about the psychology of it never helped me any--for the most part I sat around and ate a bunch because it was easy and felt good. The decision to do stuff differently didn't come from a ton of soul searching; it was just becoming empirically evident how unhealthy I'd become.

My friend has been a non-gluten diet and he seems to like it. I tried the vegetarian thing and I simply couldn't get enough energy for my current exercise patterns and goals. I think it's a matter of tweaking it and finding things that work, but man, I got to a point of failure there. I was eating relatively healthy but each day, I was weaker than the day before. It got terrrrrrrr. I don't know. Maybe there's something to be said about animal protein, unless.. you know what you're doing, that is, or maybe I just had to get used to it. But I decided not to mess with it, and I'm back eatin kitten tacos.

You have to eat a lot more if you're not eating meat and it actually got to be a chore for me to constantly re-up. It's way easier if you can cook in giant batches and at least not have to think about it for 5-6 meals in a row.

So how should people stop eating the twinkies and mcdonalds and go to the gym 6 days a week? Become empirically evident how unhealthy they've become?

Fair enough! I should've probably qualified that entire post as purely subjective observation, which, y'know, why even make it in that case. But! I do wonder how using the rhetoric of addiction and recovery affects your attitude toward this stuff.

What boggles the mind is that Kelloggs is saying that they can't reduce salt in foods even though it's killing peeps, because people LOVE salt!

Quote

In recent months, food companies, including Kellogg, have said they were redoubling efforts to reduce salt. But they say they can go only so far, so fast without compromising tastes consumers have come to relish or salt’s ability to preserve food. “We have to earn the consumer’s trust every day,” said George Dowdie, a senior vice president of Campbell Soup. “And if you disappoint the consumer, there is no guarantee they will come back.”

My friend has been a non-gluten diet and he seems to like it. I tried the vegetarian thing and I simply couldn't get enough energy for my current exercise patterns and goals. I think it's a matter of tweaking it and finding things that work, but man, I got to a point of failure there. I was eating relatively healthy but each day, I was weaker than the day before. It got terrrrrrrr. I don't know. Maybe there's something to be said about animal protein, unless.. you know what you're doing, that is, or maybe I just had to get used to it. But I decided not to mess with it, and I'm back eatin kitten tacos.

You have to eat a lot more if you're not eating meat and it actually got to be a chore for me to constantly re-up. It's way easier if you can cook in giant batches and at least not have to think about it for 5-6 meals in a row.

Are you still not eating meat or are you back on it?

I went back. I try to sub out veggie sources whenever available because of all the other benefits -- the low fat, the fiber, the vitamins, etc. My overall ratio has definitely changed, though.

My friend has been a non-gluten diet and he seems to like it. I tried the vegetarian thing and I simply couldn't get enough energy for my current exercise patterns and goals. I think it's a matter of tweaking it and finding things that work, but man, I got to a point of failure there. I was eating relatively healthy but each day, I was weaker than the day before. It got terrrrrrrr. I don't know. Maybe there's something to be said about animal protein, unless.. you know what you're doing, that is, or maybe I just had to get used to it. But I decided not to mess with it, and I'm back eatin kitten tacos.

You have to eat a lot more if you're not eating meat and it actually got to be a chore for me to constantly re-up. It's way easier if you can cook in giant batches and at least not have to think about it for 5-6 meals in a row.

Are you still not eating meat or are you back on it?

I went back. I try to sub out veggie sources whenever available because of all the other benefits -- the low fat, the fiber, the vitamins, etc. My overall ratio has definitely changed, though.